


Long Distance Blue

by Yesacia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-12 17:25:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13552110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yesacia/pseuds/Yesacia
Summary: Lance is having a difficult time dealing with his emotions when Keith leaves Voltron.





	1. Do You Miss Him Like I do?

**Author's Note:**

> This was typed up pretty quick, but I have a second part from Keith's POV and a continuation later on. I'm also in the process of finishing other works right now and transferring works from my FanFiction account.

  Lance flopped down on his bed with a loud sigh, staring up at the ceiling in an uncomfortable silence. He never liked the quiet, it left him with his thoughts too long. He stretched his arms over his head, the discomfort already building in his gut. Thoughts of his large family back on Earth and the training from the Garrison always found a way to sneak in when it was quiet, memories of hectic school days and siblings. He wondered a lot about his nieces and nephews and other people at the Garrison, and it seemed to make the quiet even less bearable. He rubbed his aching shoulder with a soft grumble, the sound nearly deafening in the silence.

  The rooms on the castle ship were all fairly similar, bunks built into a cubby in the wall to sleep on and not much else. The rooms were pretty small, and his jacket hung on a hook by the door. An even smaller bathroom in the far corner. Nothing to really focus on or deal with. He found himself recalling his room at the Garrison, and tried to find something to keep his thoughts in the present. He'd adapted to the low mechanical hum of the ship ages ago, and was so used to it at this point he couldn't even hear it. He thought about going to Pidge's room to play some more of the video game they'd bought, but decided against it. She'd probably gone to sleep already, they were all pretty beat from Allura's training that day. Maybe he could wake up Hunk, it wouldn't be the first time, but Hunk seemed so tired. He probably wouldn't want any wild antics or pranks today. Besides, it was no fun to prank people anymore. Not since keith Left for the Blade of Mamora. his thoughts lingered on Keith a moment before sadness started to creep into his mind.  
 

  With a sigh and shake of his head, he pushed the thoughts back and got ready for his nightly skincare routine. He grabbed his headphones, humming the tune he listened to every night. A buzzing sound coming from his bed stopped him just as he was about to put them on, and he practically dove back into bed, tossing sheets around until he found his communicator glowing bright orange. Was it a girl from that planet they just left? Hunk saying he was up and telling him to meet him in the kitchen for snacks? He tapped the screen, and as it dimmed and he grinned widely, staring at the screen. Even better than all of that, he over flowed with joy. It was Keith, a simple message and only three letters, but it cleared out his thoughts and all the uncomfortable emotions he was feeling.

"Hey."

Lance began typing away almost frantically.

Hey Keith! What's up my man? It's been a while! Where are you? Are you coming back soon? Shiro asks about you all the time

He stopped, thinking about Shiro. He was practically Keith's brother, and got to talk to him way more than Lance did. A tiny pang of jealousy he didn't understand struck him, and he bit the inside of his cheek. He held down the delete button and sent a new message.

"Hey what's up my man?"

Keith's answer took a while, and Lance fidgeted with the communicator impatiently. His teeth softly bit down into his bottom lip as time passed, seemingly forever. Maybe he'd downplayed it too much. Maybe he'd replied too quickly and seemed needy. He wasn't sure why he was so concerned about Keith's opinion, but a buzz prevented him from thinking too much about it.

"Nothing. Just woke up." He smiled as he recalled the way Keith would have wild, tangled hair and red lines from his pillow crossing his face every morning at breakfast. He chuckled to himself as he almost heard Keith's morning time grumbling. Oh he missed that, he always looked ridiculous, cheeks still pink and most morning still warm from his blankets. The jokes were endless.

"We're just heading to bed here. Where are you?" Again, a pause that seemed to go on for an age before he got a reply.

"Not sure. I'll let you go back to sleep."

A little bit of panic in Lance's chest started to grow at the thought of being alone in the silence again. He typed a few paragraphs worth of replies that he kept deleting and cutting until he sent one he thought would be ok.

"No it's fine I can't sleep anyway"

  He waited, frown on his face. Had he taken too long to reply? Did Keith think he fell asleep? He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. How long had it been since he last talked to Keith? How long had it been since he'd last seen Keith? It was so hard to tell time in space.  
Before his cell phone had died, he'd used it to tell the time, but he'd killed the battery ages ago, in a fit of trying to find cell service in some distant quadrant when he'd thought of his mother too long. Seeing as he didn't have his charger, and no way to really plug it in, it sat under his bed with his wallet and other things that had been in his pockets that night. He started to wonder if Pidge could do something to charge his phone, like how she'd found a way to get the video game to work. If not, maybe her brother Matt could next time he came by.

He came by a lot more than Keith did.

 _God_ , he missed Keith.

  He frowned at the thought, and found his hands toying absently with the alien cell phone. Not wanting to think about _that,_ or his family, or his phone, he ran through a mental routine skin care checklist instead. Making his way back to the bathroom, he held fast to the communicator, not ready to let go just yet.  
It wasn't long before his headphones were on, and he found himself toying with the green circles on either side, thinking about how grateful he was that Pidge had essentially given him the headphones. He wished he had a backpack of his things when they'd left, Pidge seemed to have been the luckiest of the Garrison trio. He just had what was in his pockets. Keith was pretty cool on that motor bike. A rock sunk down in his chest at the thought of how long ago that had been. How long since he'd last seen him. Did the others miss him this much? Surely they did, he was their friend. Something about that hurt, and he wanted to reach for his phone and talk to his mother about it. He frowned, flicking on the music and focusing on the sound before he could lose the reigns on his thoughts again.

  He let the music drift him away as he carried on his nightly routine, but couldn't shake certain thoughts. Like wondering if the others missed Keith nearly as much as he did. He crawled into bed wondering why he missed Keith so much more now. He thought about it a long time before he passed out for the night, communicator in hand.


	2. Understanding

  The next morning, he was training, shooting various moving targets that flew about the room, occasionally something came his way and he dodged them pretty easily. It was a fairly low level training,but he was tired, and he didn't really feel like getting up, much less defending the universe. He shut down the simulator and sighed, glancing around the room with a sleepy gaze before rubbing his eyes. It was starting to get quiet again, but at least the little bit of adrenaline had made his heart beat in his ears, and he had something to think on, like how he may need to touch up a bit on target practice. He was mentally planning a more serious training before the doors hissed open and he jumped, his heart skipping a beat. No one else came in to train this early except-

"Oh." His heart sunk as Shiro stepped in, but he found himself waving at the taller man anyway. "Hey Shiro." He was almost mad about his disappointment. Why would Keith be here? He was off doing Blade...stuff. Shiro smiled at him, even waved back, but he knew better than to think Shiro hadn't heard his disappointment.

"Hey Lance. Early morning again?" Lance shrugged as Shiro made his way over, a somewhat suspicious look in his eyes.

"I couldn't sleep." Lance replied flatly, his bayard shifted back into it's resting form, and he let the arm hang limply at his side, save the way his thumb toyed with the handle absently. He wasn't sure what to say, or do, but seeing Shiro reminded him of Keith, and he didn't want to leave that. He didn't want to talk about it, but he also wanted to rant about it. Like an explosion just under the surface, a mass of confusion and frustration. The silence between them seemed to last forever, and he shifted his weight to one side. Could have been just a second, or maybe an hour, they felt the same anymore. Shiro put a hand on his shoulder, concern clear in his eyes.

"You okay?" Lance nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah man, I'm just- I'm just tired." He smiled and shrugged, and while Shiro didn't appear to believe him, he didn't press the matter, and for that he was grateful. Now, though, everything felt awkward.

"Alright." Shiro stepped back, sticking a thumb over his shoulder. "Hunk made breakfast, you might want to go eat."

"Yeah? About time, I'm starved." Lance laughed, glad for a reason to leave now, and made his way out the door. He didn't like the feeling of Shiro watching him go, so he tried to ignore it.

 

  When Lance arrived, Pidge and Hunk were all that remained at the table. Hunk told him good morning and served him a plate, and Lance just nodded, not up for conversation. Pidge had a fork in one hand and a screwdriver in the other, taking a bite and not bothering to remove the fork from her mouth as she started toying with whatever contraption she had on the table. He didn't want to know, it was too early to hear her ramble in big words too fast for him to hear.

"Ha, you're about as talkative in the morning as Keith was." Hunk laughed, and it hit him like a punch to the gut. It was a familiar feeling, he'd felt it a long time ago, when he found out Keith dropped out of the Garrison. When he'd heard Keith say he didn't know him, even after he'd told the stupid mullet his name. Keith always seemed to be in a world of his own. He'd only just recently come to terms with the idea Keith was a friend- a good friend- and they made such a good team. Maybe they'd always made a good team. Maybe their supposed rivalry was all in Lance's head, or maybe it started that way, and Keith figured out they made a better team than rivals before he did. Keith was always so smart that way. For someone who didn't get along with people very well, or get close to practically anyone, Keith sure did understand people. He was starting to come to an understanding with himself, but he wasn't so sure what it was.

Hunks voice pulled him from his thoughts, Pidge glaring at him over her work.

"Lance?"

"Sorry, what?" He smiled at Hunk, who looked concerned.

"You're...doing that again." Lance blinked, saw the table jittering softly as his leg bounced, his fork tapping the food instead of eating it. He laughed. At least it wasn't pen clicking- that used to drive Pidge up a wall.

"Sorry man." He tucked his legs under his chair, and after a second they started bouncing again, but at least now he wasn't shaking the table.

"You thinking of your mom again?" Hunk mumbled, and Lance sighed. Sure, the reminder of his family was totally what he needed right now. Pidge had gone back to her work, and he shook his head.

"No, I was just- You know, it's weird not having Keith here." Hunk looked honestly surprised, but his expression softened to a smile.

"Yeah, I kind of miss him too." Hunk hummed thoughtfully, eating his food quietly. Usually Lance would protest that statement, deny that he missed Keith, but it was just too weird having so many empty chairs. His eyes lingered on Keith's chair, and his silence seemed to catch Hunk's attention. "You're...not going to...rant about that?" Lance just sighed, resting his chin in his hand.

"Rant about what?"

"How much you don't miss Keith?"

"I'm just tired, Hunk." Pidge perked up at that, and glanced to Hunk. He just shrugged, and they ate in silence. Yeah, Lance missed Keith, didn't they? How did they handle breakfast without him so easily?

Alright. He really missed Keith, maybe more than everyone else.

He sighed and ate his breakfast. No, he definitely missed Keith more than the others did. He felt a little better just admitting that to himself.


	3. Visitors

  That evening, the Castle ship received guests, a few members of the Coalition for an important battle plans meeting, and Lance jogged into the room with a hopeful grin. Pidge was already there. There was Matt, trying to charm Allura, and in honesty? It didn't Bother Lance as much as it used to. He was too busy with his own thoughts. Pidge squealed and ran for her brother, and Lance scanned the group's faces as they came in. He bounced on the balls of his feet, standing on his toes, hands crossed behind his back. A few members greeted him, and he'd smile and chat, a bit shortly, eyes going between the guests and the door. When the door closed, his heart sunk. His eyes flicked to the last few guests before he saw two blade members, and he quickly excused himself.

   "Keith!" He called, grin on his face, but slowed as he registered their height, skidding to a halt when they removed their helmets, both Galra. His hands fell limply to his sides. He took a step back and frowned, bubble officially popped. The crowd seemed to be too big now. It seemed sort of suffocating.

  He managed to get out of the room with minimal conversation, and all the way to his room to sit on the bed before he let out a heavy sigh, one that shook his body and stung his eyes. He wasn't sure why he felt so crushed or why is hopes seemed so dashed. He grumbled, and decided to be a little honest with himself. He knew exactly why. It was because those Blade members weren't Keith, and Keith wasn't there. He still couldn't pinpoint why he was so outrageously hurt over that. He pulled out his communicator and looked for Keith's name, hoping to see something his communicator failed to alert him to, but the last message was his own, telling Keith he couldn't sleep. He groaned in frustration, falling back and letting the communicator drop from his hand, landing on his chest with a thump. He toyed with the idea of messaging Keith himself, but what if he was on a mission? What if he was busy? He didn't want Keith to get hurt on his account.

  Then again, Keith was smart enough to silence the thing or leave it behind, right? He wasn't sure how the communicator ended up back in his hand, texting up a message.

   "Some Blades came in today. Didn't see you. I miss you." He stared at it a minute, before deleting and trying again.

  "We really miss you, we saw some Blades come in today, was sad not to see you." That didn't quite seem to fit either.

  "Have Blades visiting. Wish you were with them." He grumbled, went to delete but hit a wrong button, sending it instead. He jolted upright, cursing and scrambling to delete it, but couldn't figure out how. After scurrying around a moment it alerted him the message had been read. He felt himself freeze, every muscle seeming to tense up, as he struggled to come up with the right text to cover it up. A blip told him he had a reply, and he stared at it a long time.

  "Me too." He felt a kind of warmth bubble up in his chest as he smiled, letting out a nervous laugh. Maybe he could say just one stupid thing, just one.

  "I actually yelled Keith at them thinking one was you, isn't that dumb?" Nah, too much. He deleted it and held the communicator to his chest, sighing. Keith missed him too. He shook his head, no, Keith missed all of them, and all of them missed Keith. He frowned, staring up at the ceiling. Did they get that weird pain in their chests when they thought of Keith too?

  A buzz on the communicator, and he grinned, frowning only slightly to see it was Hunk. Apparently people were asking about him. He sighed and rolled off his bed, heading back out to play Defender of the Universe to the guests, pausing only a moment to adjust his hair, smiling and winking at his reflection. He felt a lot better now, his communicator never leaving his hand.


End file.
